IRS
July 30, 2014 — Paul Mirengoff
It didn’t require nasty emails from Lois Lerner to establish that the IRS targeted conservative groups for harassment. The numerical disparity in the IRS’s treatment of conservative vs. liberal groups makes the case. 107 conservative groups were scrutinized. They were asked an average of 15 questions and approved at a rate of 46 percent. Only seven liberal groups were scrutinized. They were asked an average of less than five questions.
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July 27, 2014 — Scott Johnson
William Henck has worked inside the IRS Office of the Chief Counsel as an attorney for over 26 years. We posted his personal account, including his testimony to a retaliatory audit conducted by the IRS against him, this past February in “Inside the IRS.” We followed up with subsequent posts including, most recently, “Inside the IRS, part 5,” regarding the promotion of Fred Schindler to a senior position within the
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July 25, 2014 — Paul Mirengoff
President Obama famously failed to act when warned that ISIS was preparing to mount an offensive in Western Iraq. This left ISIS free to conquer, with virtually no resistance, city after city in the defense of which American soldiers have shed blood. Now Obama is receiving new warnings, this time from the Kurds in Northern Iraq. In fact, according to the Washington Post, the Kurds are “pleading for U.S. military
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July 25, 2014 — Scott Johnson
Following up on Paul Mirengoff’s series of posts on the DC Circuit’s Halbig decision, I want to draw attention to Kim Strassel’s weekly Wall Street Journal column exploring “The Obamacare-IRS nexus” (behind the Journal’s subscription paywall but accessible via Google). Strassel exposes the role played by the IRS at the behest of the White House in promulgating regulations ignoring the limitation of Obamacare subsidies to exchanges established by states. Democrats
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July 24, 2014 — Paul Mirengoff
Sean Davis, a former congressional staffer, examines the claim that the provision in Obamacare limiting subsidies to those participating in state exchanges was the product of “drafting error.” He finds it laughable. I discussed what a legislative drafting error looks like here. Davis sees it the same way: When I worked in the Senate. . .it was not uncommon to find obvious errors in bills and amendments. Sometimes you would
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July 23, 2014 — Scott Johnson
William Henck has worked inside the IRS Office of the Chief Counsel as an attorney for over 26 years. We posted his personal account, including his testimony to a retaliatory audit conducted by the IRS against him, this past February in “Inside the IRS.” We followed up with subsequent posts including part 2, part 3, and part 4. Yesterday we learned that the IRS disseminated the following announcement by email:
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July 23, 2014 — Paul Mirengoff
The IRS’s claim that Lois Lerner’s hard drive was irreparably damaged always seemed laughable to attorneys who (like John and me) have been involved in disputes over electronic discovery, as well as to IT professionals and their trade association. Now we learn, via Byron York, that IRS’s own IT professionals dispute this claim: Top IRS officials told congressional investigators that Lois Lerner’s hard drive — the one containing emails that
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July 12, 2014 — Scott Johnson
We have followed True The Vote’s case against the IRS for obvious reasons and have asked TTV counsel Cleta Mitchell to keep us as closely informed as she can. The case is important in a number of respects and the public interest in the case as well as related inquiries, I think it is fair to say, is rather high. We know our readers are intensely interested in it. Cleta
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July 11, 2014 — Paul Mirengoff
In the post immediately below, Scott reports that Judge Reggie Walton “wants to hear from the IRS.” Specifically, he wants the IRS to testify under oath about discovery issues pertaining to the destruction of evidence. Judge Walton isn’t the only veteran District Court Judge here in Washington DC who wants to hear from the IRS about this matter. Yesterday, Judge Emmet Sullivan, a Clinton appointee, ordered the IRS to explain
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July 11, 2014 — Scott Johnson
Cleta Mitchell writes to report on the hearing before Judge Walton today on True The Vote’s motion for an order addressing discovery issues with the IRS on the destruction of evidence. Cleta writes: Here is the order from today’s hearing – -Judge spent 2 hours asking questions – the judge is requiring the IRS to start testifying under oath – by persons with direct knowledge and by the end of
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July 10, 2014 — Paul Mirengoff
New documents obtained by Judicial Watch demonstrate that the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration sought a key May 2010 internal email ordering the targeting of Tea Party groups. Lois Lerner initially acknowledged the existence of the email, but later denied it. The email may be among those lost when Lerner’s hard drive crashed. In a January 24, 2013 email from Troy Paterson of the Inspector General’s office to Holly
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July 1, 2014 — John Hinderaker
Scott wrote earlier today about the motion that True the Vote is bringing against the IRS in the federal court in the District of Columbia. The motion asks for expedited discovery with respect to the IRS’s destruction of evidence relevant to True the Vote’s case, an order prohibiting further destruction of evidence, and other relief. I have read True the Vote’s brief in support of its motion. It appears powerful.
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July 1, 2014 — Scott Johnson
Cleta Mitchell represents True the Vote, one of the groups illegally targeted by the IRS in the scandals that have exposed the agency as a partisan operation. True the Vote’s Catherine Engelbrecht has been harassed by federal law enforcement authorities representing three different federal agencies. The recent disclosure of the “loss” of thousands of emails subject to production by the IRS in the litigation was the subject of Cleta’s letter
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June 29, 2014 — John Hinderaker
Writing in American Thinker about Megyn Kelly’s forthcoming interview with Bill Ayers, Karin McQuillan recalls something that I wrote in 2008, which I had completely forgotten. She refers to Ed Lasky; the first quote is McQuillan’s, the second is Lasky’s, and the third is mine: Ed Lasky’s many articles, including this one predicting an Obama Ayer’s-style radical assault on education (think Common Core) and another with the prophetic 2008 quote
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June 29, 2014 — Scott Johnson
Lois Lerner attorney William Taylor III appeared on CNN this morning and among the items up for discussion was the “loss” of two-years’ worth of Lerner’s emails in the epidemic of computer crashes plaguing the IRS. As for the crashes, according to Taylor, we don’t know the half of it. As for the “loss” of Lerner’s email, it was just one of those things. Taylor omits the rest of the
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June 28, 2014 — Scott Johnson
New York Times public editor Margaret Sullivan solicits a response to criticisms of the Times’s coverage (or lack thereof) of the IRS scandals from David Joachim, who is the Times’s man on the case. Sullivan links to Joachim’s stories and provides his response in “Is the Times ignoring a scandal at the IRS?” Joachim holds that “we’ve paid copious attention to this story, and we will continue to do so.
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June 27, 2014 — Scott Johnson
Our friend John Eastman is the chairman of the National Organization for Marriage. After months of evasion and denial, the IRS has now admitted that it illegally leaked the names of NOM’s donors to a third party who saw to their publication. The IRS agreed to settle NOM’s case against it on the basis of a consent judgment under which it will receive $50,000 as actual damages. I wrote about
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